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I did extensive research on many brands of wood stove before we made a purchase. Long story shortthe chimney pipe and hearth were so costly that we were unable to purchase a more expensive stove. Tractor Supply has this model with the pedestal legs for $899. At TSC this model is called the "Magnolia". We have used the stove for several months now and here are a few observations:
1. It does put out a LOT of heat. Make sure the area you put it is large.
2. The air wash feature on the glass functions beautifully unless the fire is fully damped and then the corners get a bit dirty.
3. The blower on the back is loud. The variable speed function works poorly. It does push hot air nicely when the stove is heated.
4. The damper rod is a pull out vs a left/right slide making it difficult to "dial in" the damper where it works best.
5. The fire board in the top inside of the stove that redirects gasses is fragile. My wife cracked it in half the first week we had the stove.
6. It seems like 6 hours is about the best reasonable burn time we have gotten unless it is packed with wood and fully damped. (This is not reccomended)
7. The door latch and hinge hardware seems a bit weak. I will probably buy a few spares so I can have them when I need them.
8. I don't entirely understand the new wood stove science, but it seems like the firebox has to be pretty hot before there is any visible secondary burn of exaust gasses. (this can be viewed by fire coming from the little holes in the tubes that line the top of the firebox as spent gasses are reheated to burn)
9. Rear corner clearance from the wall for a corner of the room installation was 10 1/2 in. without any secondary protection. I followed that guidance with my install. When a decent fire is going the wall is so hot that I cant hold my hand against it for more than about a second. It's HOT!
10. FYI this stove calls for 26 in. of hearth in front of the stove. Most call for only 18 in. What this means to you is that to "pass code" for the building inspector you will need a bigger hearth. If you are installing the stove in the middle of the wall there are several modular DIY products that can accomplish this effectively and cheaply. HOWEVER if you are installing this in the corner you will be looking at a custom made hearth pad. I had 3 quotes with the cheapest one being $780. I ended up using 3 layers of Durarock to reach the appropriate R value on the floor and then finished it with tile. It was a lot of work but it only set me back $280 in materials.
We bought the stove for regular use to heat our 2600 sq. ft cape cod. In some ways I wish we had purchased a stove with more quality features and higher efficiency. This model only is rated at 68 to 73%. Many non catalytic stoves nowadays are 80% 90%. That's a lot of wood savings! Overall, its not a Harmon or Jotul but it is a pretty good value I think.
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We bought the model 3000, the next model larger than the 2500. The 2500 and 3000 stoves look pretty much alike.The quality of the workmanship is not as good as we had hoped for a US manufacturer.
1) When we unpacked the stove, we noticed that firerope (sealing the door) was unravelling. That should have been fixed before it left the factory.
2) When attempting to install the trim that goes around the base of the unit, we found that one of the pieces was defective because it was not pre-drilled for the screws that are intended to hold it together. I had to drill out that piece myself in order to continue the installation.
3) The metal that the trim pieces are made of appears to be about as hard as the metal the self-tapping screws included are made of. This means that during installation of the trim, when you attempt to tap the pre-drilled holes with the screws, the screws will strip (see other reviews for the same problem). One of the screws did manage to catch in the metal of the trim, but the screw head broke off. Ugh! I had to GLUE the pieces together. I spent HOURS fighting the trim.
US Stove should pay attention to the reviews and fix the QC problems. Luckily, we purchased the stove through 123Greetings and their customer service is outstanding.
We would had given the stove four or maybe five stars, but the attention to quality is lacking, so three stars is fair.
The heat output seems to be good since it is pretty much heating our 6,000 sq ft house (partly, though, because we built the home to take advantage of wood heat).
The stove's door opening is smaller than it could be, making it more difficult to load than it should be.
As at least one other review states, the air-driven glass-cleaning design works well unless the air is damped way down. This is my experience with other stoves as well, though, so is a common issue.
We like the flat top for heating water or for cooking. This was one of the features we looked for.
The blower is noisy and REALLY weak. You can barely even feel the warm air coming out. We use a different fan that we have blowing over the top of the unit to increase the efficiency of heat transfer. Over the decades, we have had numerous other stoves and inserts with fans and this fan is by far the worst. We lump this issue with quality problems.
Next time we will probably try another brand simply because there are some very nice units out there with proven quality.
UPDATE: 2/8/2013.
We discovered another design flaw in the unit. The firebox has an cast iron plug that can be lifted out to allow you to clean out the ashes. You simply lift the plug then brush the ashes into the hole. The ashes drop down into the drawer below. The PROBLEM with this is that the clean-out hole is near the left-hand side of the drawer. Every time we clean out the ash, they spill out over the side of the drawer into the unit below. They could easily have avoided this issue by CENTERING the clean-out hole over the drawer. We can't figure out WHY they would make the hole near the SIDE of the drawer instead of in the center.
The stove is generally performing fairly well, over all, with respect to staying together while burning North Idaho Energy Logs (which are MUCH better than regular firewood since they burn hotter and longer).
The front door did become stuck at one point due to the expansion of the metal. We had to pry it open with a tool and then use a grinder to remove some metal near the latch in order to get the door to open and close properly. This was another small quality issue, it looks like. We think this problem was a result of the extreme heat generated by the North Idaho Energy Logs. Previously, we were burning regular oak and maple firewood, but recently switched entirely to the Energy Logs and then experienced the door issue. The Energy Logs burn substantially hotter than regular firewood and likely caused unusual expansion of the metal, resulting in the misalignment.
Best Deals for US Stove Wood Stove with Blower, Model# 2500
We bought this model at Lowe's (which matched a lower price we found elsewhere) and have been extremely happy with it. It heats our 1700-foot house very efficiently. We find we don't need to use the blower at this time, but were glad it was included in case we do. We found the construction was also fine no problem like the other reviewer noted on the different model. We shopped around for a good price with good quality and thus far we have been extremely satisfied. We plan on getting a stovepipe thermometer to further increase efficiency.Honest reviews on US Stove Wood Stove with Blower, Model# 2500
Amazon did a great job with the shipping. Not to happy with the accounting department at Amazon but that's another story. Stove is great! Heats the entire 3000 sq. foot house with ease. Solid construction, easy to assemble, and very styish wood stove. Wish it would have come with a grate for the wood inside and not have to buy one seperate, but that's no big deal. Have no complaints.....yet.Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for US Stove Wood Stove with Blower, Model# 2500
The overall quality of my experience with both a pellet and then a wood stove from US Stove is that they are simply poorly made and that the company makes a great deal of money off of the price of their parts. And you have to watch to make sure that the stove you order hasn't been "gobbled up" by the giant that calls itself "US Stove". They may make stoves but I got burned in a different way than expected. Heck, robbed is more like it.
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